from Munster Express St Josephs team who won the Novice Cup.
St Senans juvenile athletes were in terrific form at the Kilkenny county ‘B’ cross country championships in Kilmacow last Sunday winning the girls U/10, U/12 and boys U/14 team titles. There were also some fine individual performances with gold medal performances by Hannah Irish, Aoife Butler and Stephen Greene, silver medals for Caimhe Kearns, Tara Lacey, Orla Butler and Eoghan Wallis and bronze for Niamh Crowley, Aoife Halley and Sarah Dollard. There were lots of other fine performances too including in the girls races top runs by Nell Murphy, Hannah Lacey and Ciara Darmody in the U/8 race. In the U/10 age group Eve Lacey placed 4th just ahead of Annmarie Moloney with good runs too by Sinead McEvoy and Saoirse DeCourcey to see the team take gold.
As well as our medal winners the U/12 girls team had good runs by Michelle McDonald 7th and Clare McEvoy 8th, which also saw this team take gold.. For the boys Kieran Wallis was 8th in the U/8, while in the U/10 boys age group Kevin Conneely, Martin Moloney and Ben Rochford all ran well. The boys U/12 race saw Gerard Wallis, Jonathan Crowley and Dev Murphy help this team take the gold medals. All in all some fine running and its clear that the hard training over our new cross country course is starting to bring rewards. Well done to all.
County Results
In the girls U/8 race Thomastown had first and second through Ciara O’Keeffe and Sinead O’Keefe, with Niamh Crowley of St Joseph’s third. In the U/8 boys it was Joseph Conlon and Jack Cahill respectively who took gold and bronze for the Thomastown club with Conor Clarke, Castlecomer winning silver. Gowran were dominant in the individual placings at U/10 with Michael Casey and Ted Drea first and second in the boys race and Jack Brennan, Thomastown in third place. Ruth Kennedy won the girls U/10 race and Grace O’Donnell was third.
The spoils were more evenly spread at U/14 level with five clubs having individual placings. In the girls race Sinead McDonough, KCH, had a good distance to spare over Cliodhna Quirke, Brow Rangers with Emer Fitzpatrick, Thomastown placing third. The boys race was won by Tom Phelan, Castlecomer, with Conor O’Carroll, Gowran in second and Conor Quinlan, KCH was third. Brian McCormack, Gowran was first home in the under 16 race. Jack Brennan, Castlecomer was second and Thomas Walsh, Brow Rangers won the bronze.
Team Results – Girls
1- St Senan’s. 2 – Gowran. 3- Thomastown
Under 12:
1- St Senan’s. 2 – Gowran. 3- Thomastown
Under 14:
1- Gowran
Team Results – Boys
1- Thomastown. 2 – Gowran 3 – Castlecomer
Under 12:
1 – St Senan’s. 2 – Gowran 3 – Brow Rangers
Under 14:
1 – Gowran. 2 – Castlecomer.
Gowran Take Ladies Novice
In the ladies 3K race it was sisters, Maria and Gretta Kennedy who took top honours. They set a steady pace from the start and gradually pulled clear over the second lap to take the top two places. Sarah Dollard had a fine run to take bronze with Elaine O’Reilly, Thomastown 4th,Lisa Kennedy Gowran 5th and Tracey Malone, St Joseph’s 6th. Gowran took the team title and the Novice Shield.
Great Win for St Josephs
The Novice men’s 6K race was much more competitive both for the individual and team medals. Niall Quinlan, KCH set the early pace tracked by David Larkin St Josephs and Chris O’Neill Gowran. It was the Gowran man who proved the strongest going clear on the last of the four laps for an impressive win. Larkin took silver with Quinlan in bronze.
St Joseph’s with twenty-two points too the coveted Novive Cup after a gap of over 30 years thanks to solid running took silver through Niall Quinlan 3rd, Eamon Marnell 5th, Clive Minogue 6th and Steve Dermody 16th. Gowran took bronze with Chris O’Neill, Jimmy Barcoe, Larry McGrath and John Paul Comerford 1st, 8th 12th and 13th respectively. The other runners’ places were as follows:- For St Joseph’s – Martin Manning 10, Rocky Mernagh 11, Jim Murphy 20; Kilkenny City Harriers – David McPherson 18; Gowran – Brian Keane 15, Matthew Nolan 17, Pat Bryan 19. PJ Irish flew the St Senans flag and was 14th overall.
Intermediate Ladies Win Bronze
The ladies kept the Kilkenny flag flying at the Leinster Intermediate Cross country championships in Ballinakill on Sunday. Suzanne Donovan, Aghaviller was first home for the team in 10th place. The KCH trio of Caoimhe Foley (16), Sinead Foley (31) and Kate Millea (50) completed the scoring. KCH who also had Joan Martin (51) were sixth club. The Intermediate men were represented by Patrick Bookle, St Joseph’s(34), Colin Butler , St Senan’s (40) and Steve Dermody, KCH(60).
Impressive McCarthy
Providence based Waterford athlete David McCarthy, finished an impressive second to Mohamed Khadraoui in the North East regional cross country championships at Van Cortlandt Park in New York yesterday. Covering the 10k distance in 31:13 he was just two seconds adrift of the winner, while Andrew Ledwith was fifth a further 15 seconds back. McCarthy has had a great season in the US and looks set for a brilliant future career.
Intercounty on Tramore Racecourse
Waterford AC are hard at work preparing the course for the upcoming All Ireland Intercounty cross country championships at Tramore racecourse on Sunday 23rd November with a start time of 12.00am. The full timetable is as follows:
Juveniles 12.00am, Senior Women 13.45, Junior Women 14.25, Junior Men 14.45, Senior Men 15.10. Kilkenny will have a ladies and mens team in action with Adele Walsh leading the ladies squad.
Fixtures
23rd Nov AAI Intercounty and Juvenile (even) CC, Tramore 12.00am
30th Nov Kilkenny County ‘B’ novice and U/7 – U/17 ‘B’ CC, Thomastown.
7th Dec AAI Novice and Juvenile (uneven) CC, Ballyhaise, Co Cavan 12.00am
21st Dec Co Kilkenny Senior CC, Gowran 2.00am
Quoteworthy
“You wouldn’t see as much fuss over a parachute”
– Paschal Rochford to Bill Lacey as they set up the finishing shute last Sunday.
